Holocene glacier and climate fluctuations on Franz Josef Land, Arctic Russia, 80°N

Abstract

Fluctuations in glacier extent provide the first comprehensive record of Holocene paleoclimate for Franz Josef Land. Glacier fluctuations were constrained using 45 14C ages from 16 glacier margins. Many glaciers were behind present margins before 9.4 kyr, possibly as early as 10.3 kyr, and probably remained so until at least 4.4 kyr (where kyr= 14C yr B.P./1000). Subsequently, glaciers expanded, probably reaching present margins before 3.2 kyr, but certainly by 2 kyr. A prominent Neoglacial advance occurred ca. 1 kyr, and was followed by ‘Little Ice Age’ advances, including one in the middle 1600s A.D. Glaciers were larger than present at the turn of the century, followed by widespread retreat soon after. The Holocene glacier record closely mimics that of Svalbard, 500 to 1000 km to the west, suggesting similar glacier mass balance changes over a broad region of the Eurasian Arctia. Independent paleoclimate evidence from Svalbard indicates higher-than-present summer air temperatures during the early to middle Holocene, when glaciers were behind present margins, followed by generally cooler summer conditions and intermittent glacier advances and retreats. Holocene glacier variations were probably more influenced by summer temperature than winter precipitation.